J Kosec
United States
New Haven
CT
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My first Arkham adventure took most of a Sunday afternoon/early evening as I figured out the rules. After an autopsy of that experience with the rulebook and the recently-posted rules clarifications I played through the game a second time, the account of which appears in this session report.
Here's how the set-up shook down:
Player-characters, drawn at random, were Gloria Goldberg, the Author (Sanity 6, Stamina 4), and Kate Winthrop, the Scientist (Sanity 6, Stamina 4). Gloria fortunately drew a +1 Speed skill, which helped compensate for her relatively low Sneak attribute, while Kate drew a +1 Sneak skill to add to her already substantial Sneak. Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods, showed up as the Great Old One, and her presence proved oppressive and eventually fatal for our adventurers.
Now, on to the session itself.
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Shortly after a gate to Yuggoth opened at the Witch House, Gloria strode out of Velma's Diner with, among other things, her .38 revolver and a Shrivelling scroll. She knew something wasn't right, but sensed a story and so wasn't in a hurry. She wandered off to search the neighborhood around the diner for clues.
Across town, Kate gathered threw her items together, making sure to grab her Book of Dzyan and the Find Gate spell she discovered as a side-effect of the research into her flux stabilizer. Thankfully, Kate's motorcycle had a full tank, and she found herself depending on its nimbleness to wind through the streets of Arkham in her last few days alive. While hunting clues at the Black Cave she was surprised by a cultist. While she could not fully comprehend the danger that had settled over the land, she saw the murderous intent in the cultist's eyes and did not hesitate to cripple it with a well-cast Wither spell. Unfortunately, her success little prepared her for the toughness and resilience Shub-Niggurath lent the other creatures who would soon pour into the streets of Arkham.
Gloria remained similarly ignorant, even as she discovered several clues and a horribly rotted corpse during a visit to the Unvisited Isle. Before she could come back to Arkham proper, private security had discovered and disposed of a zombie shambling through the streets of Uptown. Soon after, the Sheldon Gang quite unhelpfully released a Dark Young and a Nightgaunt into the streets. The Dark Young wandered aimlessly around Arkham, but the Nightgaunt soon took to the skies.
Kate, now confident after gathering some clues, sped over to the Witch House and plunged headlong into the gate to Yuggoth. There she encountered a Zombie and instantly regretted not shopping for a weapon. The monster, much to her disbelief, withstood two barrages of her successfully-cast Wither spell before falling to a third. Shub-Niggurath chuckled quietly in the darkness of the woods, and felt her power grow even greater as monsters filled Arkham and started wandering into the Outskirts of town.
Barely alive after her encounter with the Zombie, Kate steeled herself enough to cast her Find Gate spell. Safely back in Arkham, though, she found herself without enough clues to seal the gate she closed, since every last bit of her research had turned up necessary to defeat the Zombie. Gloria found herself just as helpless as she accidentally opened a gate, only to be overrun by a fearsome Hound of Tindalos. Shocked and off-guard, she utterly failed her Shrivelling spell and woke up the next morning, aching and bruised, in the hospital.
As Gloria left the hospital the Feds swept through the streets of Arkham, cleaning up the wandering Dark Young, as well as a Formless Spawn and an Elder Thing that had joined it some days ago. Kate found herself shuffled into the dark recesses of the Silver Twilight Lodge and, after her paying her membership dues was back out on the street. Her wounds had not yet healed, and she stopped at Hibb's Roadhouse for a drink to dull the pain of the last few days. Despite all the trouble she'd faced from extradimensional beings, here at Hibb's she discovered that her fellow villagers could be just as dangerous. She had a bit too much to drink and woke up in a gutter outside Hibb's, and she discovered immediately that whoever helped her out of the bar also helped himself to her Wither spell.
By this point the adventurers needed some sort of lucky break, and each stumbled into one. Gloria gunned down a Dimensional Shambler with her revolver in one hand and a Wither scroll in another, and she closed a gate after the Nightgaunt swept from the skies to knock her into Another Dimension. Despite her own sorry state Kate irrepressibly flung herself into the Dreamlands. There she followed a delightful song to spot one of the blessed red birds of Celephais, and thus found her body and mind renewed.
Both investigators, encouraged by their sudden health and success at closing gates, were disturbed to see two more gates open. Monsters had filled Arkham, but Happy Days had settled over town and the villagers could not be discouraged. For several days no one seemed to care about the monsters in the Outskirts, so neither did our intrepid investigators. They assessed Shub-Niggurath’s progress but felt no need to be threatened. Kate spent several days at the library and newspaper searching for clues, and Gloria wandered through gates in no particular hurry. A gate attempted to open at the Black Cave but found itself blocked by an Elder Sign. The villagers closed the Merchant District for a Fourth of July parade, and shortly after an incredible planetary alignment further padded the investigators’ sense of confidence.
The Black Goat of the Woods bid her time, slowly gathering her strength. By the time the planetary alignment slipped out of place her return was now a pressing issue. The investigators realized this with horror and desperation when the environment shifted, and they found themselves unable to seal gates with the clues they had gathered. Gates had opened everywhere in Arkham. The Outskirts were full. And our investigators realized they had underestimated Shub-Niggurath, who was only a few days away from awakening. Between them they had two monster trophies, and from what they knew about Shub-Niggurath—not to mention their recent successes at combat—they stood a far better chance closing the remaining gates than they did in battle with the Great Old One, even if it meant they had to run the risk of leaving those gates unsealed.
Kate, sensing the thickening desperation of their cause, snuck past a Dhole to slip into a gate which took her to the Plateau of Leng. After avoiding any significant difficulty in that world she successfully cast her Find Gate spell and returned to The Unnameable to close the gate. She contemplated firing up her motorcycle to race across town to another gate, but she found herself blocked in—the Dhole which she slipped past earlier had shambled into the streets in search of her. She was certain she could succeed, though, having successfully evaded it once, and snuck past it only to turn right back around and past the monster again, for another gate had opened at The Unnameable, this time to Another Dimension.
As Kate plunged into Another Dimension, Gloria found herself in the City of the Great Race. There she narrowly avoided heavy winds and treacherous footing—she was, not for the first time, thankful of her enhanced psychic sensitivities. Despite her weariness and her failing sanity she set forth for a gate leading to the Dreamlands. She was confident in Kate’s ability to close the gate to Another Dimension and knew that, with some luck, they could close the remaining two gates just in time. She was oddly thankful to see the proprietor for the Curiositie Shoppe pounding boards across the door as monsters flooded the Outskirts. It was one less gate to deal with.
Kate was not so lucky in Another Dimension. Her Find Gate spell failed and she wandered hopelessly through the strange world, searching for a gate. Before she could make heads or tails of the place a Star Spawn swept down upon her. She held her sanity before its hideous aspect but could not avoid its attack and flee; the creature crushed her and sent her sprawling. As it reared above her for its second blow she dove beneath a stone outcropping and barely managed to escape the howling demon. She returned from Another Dimension and sealed the gate, but she was bleeding badly.
Monsters continued to pour into the Outskirts. Gloria worked her way through the Dreamlands. Kate knew they could not stand to see even two more gates open. She clenched her teeth against the pain and screamed down the street on her motorcycle, only to be blocked on her path to the gate in the Woods by a Gug and a Cultist. The investigators had gained the ability to seal the gates now, but the Festival amplified Shub’s power to make even the Cultist an enormously challenging opponent. Kate tried to avoid both. She successfully slipped past the Gug but the Cultist saw her and attacked. The Cultist’s flaccid assault did not greatly injure Kate, but she was unable to kill it after several rounds of combat. It ate bullets like candy and beat her senseless; she found herself in the hospital the next morning.
Fortunately for our investigators the hospital is close enough to the Woods that Kate had one last attempt at the gate the next day. Gloria had returned from the Dreamlands, but she was on the other side of Arkham and could add no further assistance. It was down to Kate’s final attempt on the last gate. Much healthier, Kate successfully sped past the Gug and the Cultist and dove through the gate to Yuggoth. There, before she could attempt her Find Gate spell, she found herself lost among a high-walled labyrinth. Gloria, now waiting for her fellow investigator and feverishly recording everything that had happened, was horrified to hear the distant crackling of a gate opening in Independence Square.
Before she knew what was happening she found herself side by side with Kate, and the two faced the towering menace of the Black Goat of the Woods. They dropped their useless pistols and looked at one another desperately as the horrifying ancient demon approached them. Kate saw the madness in Gloria’s eyes, and she was shocked to see the older author drive herself insane in a vain attempt to shrivel the monstrous horror. Shub devoured her without effort. The sight was enough to send Kate over the edge, and she went herself into Shub’s bottomless gullet, insane and flailing, spouting off every pathetic spell her crazed mind could remember.
*
Debriefing
It’s obvious, looking back on the session, what the problem was. I spent much too much time searching for clues so I could seal the gates, rather than just getting through them to close them. It’s possible I would have had enough time to close all the gates, the way things had been going, but I realized this far too late. I was lulled into an artificial sense of confidence in the middle of the game because things really were going all too well for the investigators. They were healthy and had plenty of time to look for clues, even after some tough battles. But it seems like with only 2 players there are hardly enough clues which appear—or clues which appear in places you can reach—to make it easy to get enough to seal every gate that opened, and that’s what I was trying to do. In the end I wasted about ten turns I could have used closing gates. That was the best option with this group of characters, who were unskilled fighters and who kept meeting monsters made unconquerable by the power of the Great Old One. I’m quite excited to try it again, but next time you can bet I’ll focus on getting through the gates faster!
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Benjamin Kindt
United States
San Antonio
TX
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Fantastic session report. I purchased the game, read the rules, but haven't had a chance to play yet. So, this helped me tremendously to reinforce the general flow of the game. Many thanks!
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J Kosec
United States
New Haven
CT
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bkindt wrote: Fantastic session report. I purchased the game, read the rules, but haven't had a chance to play yet. So, this helped me tremendously to reinforce the general flow of the game. Many thanks!
You'll also have to check the very helpful rules clarification document Kozure has posted for the game, as well--it's a succinct review of some of the issues you're likley to encounter on your first couple runs through the game.
Thanks for the great feedback!
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